Finding Luke
by SlytherinLove30
Summary: Set after Wedding Bell Blues. Lorelai finds out makes a discovery and Luke is no where to be found. Lane and Ceaser don't know where he went. Liz doesn't know where he went. And Jess lost track of him. Now it's up to Rory to bring him back.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer****- I don't own the Gilmore Girls or its characters.**

**Author's Note****- I know what you guys are thinking, this plot line has been beaten to death but I had to. I noticed that all of the stories had been mostly how Lorelai or Luke dealt with the situation so I decided to switch it up and show how it affects Rory. I hope you like it!**

**'s Luke?**

Lorelai Gilmore stared down at the item in her hand, her eyes focused on the pink line mocking her. She had felt sick and nauseous for over a week now but she had just thought it was because of her recent break-up.

She hadn't seen or talked to Luke since that day in Doose's but she knew he was gone. The 'gone fishing' sign on the diner's locked door, now replaced with a 'for sale' sign, told her everything she had to know. Luke was never a man to go back on his word, but she never thought he would keep his promise to Taylor to move away if there ever was a break-up.

Rory was worried about her mother. She was not entirely convinced that Lorelai's new found sick bouts were due solely on her and Luke's split. That is why the mother and daughter stood their kitchen with the positive pregnancy test.

Lorelai collapsed to the ground and started to sob uncontrollably. Rory was quick to her mother's side. Lorelai burrowed her head in Rory's arm and repeatedly mumbled "What am I going to do?"

"Shh mom. It's going to be okay." Rory said trying to calm her mother down but she knew it wasn't going to work out well.

Lorelai's head slowly lifted up and looked at her daughter. "I don't think so Rory. I can't raise another kid by myself."

"First of all, you can do anything. You did it at sixteen, you can do it at thirty-six. Secondly you won't be alone. Luke would never do that to you. You have to tell him." Rory stated.

Lorelai could feel the anger begin to boil up inside of her. She stood up and began to yell. "I can't tell Luke! He's gone! He ran away and nobody knows where he went."

"Mom, I know you are upset but you have to calm down. I'm sure somebody knows where he is." Rory paced the kitchen for a while, trying to think of somebody who would know where Luke went. "What about Ceaser or Lane?"

"I went by there a couple of days ago and Ceaser told me that he didn't tell them where he was going. He just gave them instructions to sell the diner and when it did sell, to give the money to Liz." Lorelai said. She was now sitting hunched over in one of the chairs at the kitchen table.

"That's it!" Rory said after processing what her mother had just told her.

"What is it?" Lorelai questioned

"Liz. He must have told Liz where he was going." Rory said running into the foyer, bringing back their coats. "Come on."

Lorelai and Rory knocked on Liz's door later that afternoon. When Liz opened the door, she was surprised to see the Gilmore girls standing there but she knew the visit would come sooner or later.

"Lorelai, Rory. Come on in." Liz said ushering them inside.

"Hey Liz. Can we talk to you?" Lorelai said. Liz immediately noticed the lack of spark that Lorelai usually gave off.

"Sure, sure. Come sit down. Do you guys want anything to drink?" Liz said leading them into her living room. The room was furnished with Renaissance memorabilia which would usually make Lorelai laugh, but all it did was remind her of the dance at Liz and TJ's wedding.

"No thanks. I just wanted to ask you something and then we'll get out of your hair." Lorelai said quietly.

"Okay. Shoot." Liz said, knowing that she was about to ask about her M.I.A older brother.

"Do you know where Luke went?" Lorelai stated boldly.

"I'm sorry but I really don't. He came by here a couple days ago and told me he was leaving Stars Hollow and that he would call when he got settled." Liz explained. At that moment, Lorelai once again broke down in tears. Liz was shocked and knew that Luke was way more than a boyfriend to her. She looked at Rory for answers when Lorelai didn't give any.

"She's pregnant." Rory spoke for the first time since they had arrived. Liz stood from her seat and hugged Lorelai. Seeing Liz trying to comfort her mother, Rory excused herself and went to call her last hope.

She stepped into the kitchen and dialed a number. It wasn't long before the gruff voice answered her. "Hello?"

"Jess?" Rory said sheepishly. She hadn't spoken to Jess since he had shown up at her dorm and asked her to run away with him almost a year ago.

"Ya. Who is this?" Jess asked already annoyed.

"It's Rory." She replied.

Jess immediately stopped what he was doing. "Oh, ah, hey Rory. What's up?" he stammered.

"Ah nothing I just called to see if you've seen or heard from Luke lately." Rory said trying to move on from the awkwardness.

"Ya actually. He was here about three days ago. He crashed for the night and told me what happened with him and your mom. I made a stupid crack about it not being long before he's crawling back to her and begging her to take him back but he got pissed and left without his wallet and cell phone." Jess explained.

"Shit!" Rory said, there hopes of finding Luke gone.

"What's wrong ?" Jess said taken aback by Rory's minor outburst.

"She's pregnant." Rory sighed.

Jess thought about what Rory had said, trying to absorb it but all he could muster was "Wow."

"Ya wow. Now my little brother or sister and your cousin is going to end up like the two of us and grows up without a father." Rory said with anger rising in her voice. She was angry at Luke for leaving, her father and grandmother for pushing him away and herself for convincing Lorelai to lie to him in the first place.

Jess, noticing Rory's anger, tried to calm her down . "Rory listen to me. We'll find him. He couldn't of gotten very far and if I know him, he won't want to go very far."

"I hope so Jess. My mother's a mess and yours isn't doing much better." Rory said looking back into the living room and noticing that Liz was now also crying.

"Well Liz was always a very emotional person." Jess deadpanned.

Both were in silence for a second until Jess broke it. "We'll find him Rory and this kid is going to know him."

"Thanks Jess." Rory said feeling a bit better already.

"Anytime. And Rory?" Jess said before hanging up.

"Ya?" Rory answered.

"I'm sorry." He said simply.

"I'm sorry too." Rory said knowing his apology had nothing to do with Luke. "Bye Jess."

"Bye Rory."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer- I don't own the Gilmore Girls or any of its characters.**

**2. It's In His Eyes**

Rory looked at her calendar and sighed. She recognized this date as her grandparents wedding anniversary. A lot had changed in the year since their vow renewal. She was now a junior in Yale, she had dated and broken up with Logan Hunzburger, she had a new little brother, and nobody had seen or heard from Luke Danes.

Her and Jess had tried their best to locate him but with their limited resources, they came up empty. Stars Hollow hadn't been the same since he left. Even though the diner had stayed open, the towns citizens missed the town grump.

Lorelai had given up hope that he would return a lot sooner than most. She did however want her son to know something about his father, so she bought the diner, kept Lane and Ceaser on, and left it exactly how it was since Luke first opened it. She also named her son William after the father that Luke loved.

Lorelai had also yet to make up with her mother and Emily was once again missing out on her grandchild growing up. Richard however, still kept in touch with his daughter and had been present the night Will was born.

Rory was brought back to the present by a knock at the door. She stood up from her bed, walked to the door and unlocked the multiple bolts Paris had installed when they first moved in. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see her father standing there.

"Well I'm glad you're still alive." Chris joked walking past Rory and into the apartment.

"What do you want dad?" Rory asked harshly.

"I just came to see if you were okay. You never answer the phone when I call." Chris said sensing her hostility.

"Ya well I don't have anything to say to you." Rory sneered.

"Come on Rory, it's been a year." He answered knowing why she was mad.

"Sorry but I'm pretty good at holding a grudge." She said sarcastically.

"You know, most kids want their parents to be together." Chris said with a rising voice.

"I used to, but when you left us after you found out Sherry was pregnant, I knew it was never going to happen." Rory began but got cut off.

"So, you're blaming this on GiGi." Chris said accusing.

"No I'm not!" Rory yelled "There was seventeen years that you could have been there but you weren't!"

"I said I was sorry for that a hundred times." Chris answered defensively.

"Sometimes apologies aren't enough. But every time you hurt mom, Luke was always there for her, even when they hadn't spoken to each other in weeks. I always knew that no matter what , Luke would be there for us but now because of you, he isn't." Rory countered.

"Emily told me…" Christopher tried to defend his actions but Rory would have none of it.

"Since when did you do everything grandma told you. What about what I told you? I came to you and told you that she was happy with him and that I wanted you to stay away but you went and ruined it anyway. Now my little brother has to grow up without a father, just like me." Rory said. As she went on the hurt got more evident in her voice.

Chris noticed this and began to apologize but realized it would be a waste of time, so he just stood there defeated.

"I have to go." Rory said self consciously.

"Ya, okay. Bye Rory." Chris stammered as he exited the apartment, leaving Rory alone with her thoughts once again.

About an hour later, Rory pulled up to the Crap Shack. She got out of the car, pulling her dirty laundry behind her. When she walked in the house, the first floor was empty. ":Mom?" she yelled up the stairs.

"Up here!" Lorelai yelled back.

Rory smiled as she made her way up the stairs to her mother's bedroom. She noticed the door was ajar and peeked through at Lorelai and Will playing on the bed before entering.

"Hey." Rory greeted, sitting down on the bed next to Lorelai.

"Hey sweets." She greeted her daughter. "Can you say hi to your big sister, Rory?" she cooed to Will while tickling his stomach. The five month old looked at his sister, smiled and flared his arms in her direction.

Rory picked her brother up and held him close to her. Rory was never a big fan of the birthing process but she had to admit that the end result was something she could get used to. After rocking Will for a few minutes, he fell asleep in his sisters arms so she placed him in the crib besides their mothers bed. Mother and daughter sat watching the sleeping baby until Rory noticed the tears running down Lorelai's face. Rory ushered her out of the room and down stairs as to not wake the sleeping baby.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Rory asked softly, sitting next to Lorelai on the couch.

"He looks just like Luke." Lorelai sniffed while she furiously wiped the tears streaming down her face.

"I know." Rory agreed. It was true, Will could never be denied as his father's son.

"He has the same wavy brown hair and blue eyes." Lorelai said, having memorized her son's features.

"You have blue eyes too." Rory pointed out.

"No, those are Luke's eyes. They have a hint of grey. And he has those crazy long eyelashes." She sighed.

"You still miss him?" Rory asked.

"You have no idea how much, kid. Not even like a boyfriend, mostly as a friend. I mean don't get me wrong, I miss him like a partner and here to help me raise Will because believe me I did love that man but what I miss the most is just being able to talk to him." Lorelai vented.

"It makes sense. You guys were friends for so long before you got together." She replied.

"But when we did, we promised each other that no matter what we would be friends first. Now, instead, he dropped off the face of the Earth. He didn't even bother to call Liz like he promised." Lorelai said with anger rising in his voice.

"Mom, he loved you and he was hurt. He just wanted some time to process." Rory said trying to calm her down.

"He's been gone for a year Rory! How much processing does he need to do!" Lorelai yelled. She sat down again and let out a very heavy sigh. "This is just not like him. He would have at least called Liz. What if something happened to him?"

"What do you mean?" Rory said confused as to where this was coming from all of a sudden.

"What if he's hurt or dead or something bad like that?" Lorelai said with tears starting to well in her eyes once again.

Rory saw the worry on her mother's face and sat down next to her again. She hadn't seen Lorelai this upset since five months ago when Will was born. "He's fine mom. He'll come back eventually and see how stupid he was for leaving and he's going to be the best father to Will."

" I hope so." Lorelai sighed. The room fell into silence until Lorelai could completely compose herself. She turned to her daughter. "Enough about my problems. What's going on with you?"

"Um nothing much. Classes, paper. The norm." Rory said, not wanting to tell her mother about her earlier run in with Christopher.

"Oh no chicky. You're not telling me something." Lorelai answered knowingly.

"Well umm… dad stopped by today." Rory stammered. She knew that this was sore spot with her mother.

Lorelai had always tried to maintain a positive relationship with Chris for Rory's sake, no matter what happened between them. But this time he had gone too far. Because now he caused not only Rory but now Will also to grow up fatherless and she couldn't get past that. "What did he want?"

"He wanted to apologize?" Rory said, replaying the conversation in her mind.

"And?" Lorelai said waiting for her to continue.

"I didn't accept it. After everything that happened over the years, last year was the last was the last straw." Rory stated.

"As long as you're sure that that's what you want, I fully respect your decision."Lorelai said sincerely. She had never wanted to keep her daughter from her father but now at twenty years old, it was Rory's and Rory's alone call. To make.

"Thanks" Rory said with a small smile.


End file.
